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Death of the Last Witness

Sister Lucia dos Santos, Seer of Fatima, dies on First Sunday in Lent. Her life on earth is over, but the diabolic disorientation she lamented continues.

by John Vennari

The news came without warning. Virtually no one in North America knew of Sister Lucys impending death. But on Sunday, February 13, the first brief announcement came from Agence France Presse: "Sister Lucia, the last of the three shepherd children to whom the Virgin Mary is said to have made a series of apparitions in 1917, has died ... She was 97."

The secular news reported secular details: the Bishop of Coimbra says she had been sick for some weeks and had not left her cell; Sister Lucys doctor says she died "serenely like a candle which extinguishes itself, without great suffering"; long lines of people wait to pay their respects on Monday as Sister Lucy lay in state in the Convent; Portugals Prime Minister declares Tuesday, the day of her funeral, a day of national mourning; flags fly at half-staff throughout Sister Lucys home country; Portugals political parties reluctantly suspend their campaigns for two days to honor her death; funeral Mass held at the Cathedral in Coimbra at which nearly all of Portugals hierarchy attend; hundreds pack the Cathedral during the Mass and thousands crowd outside; mourners, including university students in traditional black capes, shower the coffin with flowers and wave handkerchiefs as it leaves the Cathedral; final burial at her Carmelite convent in Coimbra; the announcement that Sister Lucys remains will be moved to the Fatima basilica in a year, to rest in a crypt alongside her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco.

After this, the secular press is done with Sister Lucy. We, on the other hand, know the story does not end here. We know that Our Lady promised to take Lucy to Heaven, and we rejoice that her earthly suffering is over. Though she may first pass through the fires of Purgatory, she will now rejoin her two cousins to whom she bade tearful goodbyes more than 80 years ago.

We also know that the diabolic disorientation in the Church, warned of by Sister Lucy, worsens each day. We see the Message of Fatima downplayed and distorted by Churchmen at the highest levels. We see chaos, desolation, pandemic heresy, liturgical anarchy, moral depravity in the clergy, all resulting from Catholics and their leaders ignoring Our Ladys requests.

Sister Lucys Warning

Upon Sister Lucys death, I have been asked by many people about an alleged prophecy that Sister Lucy would live to see the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart. This, in fact, is nowhere found in the Fatima Message. The only prophecy concerning Sister Lucys death is connected with the Third Secret. The full Secret, she had told us, was supposed to be revealed at the time ofher death or in 1960, whichever came first.

In 1960, however, the Secret was not released, and Sister Lucy was silenced. She was not allowed to speak about anything not yet published on the Message of Fatima without prior authorization of the Vatican.

Yet in 1957, and in the late 60s and early 70s  the years "bracketing" 1960 wherein the Secret should have been released  Sister Lucy seemed to indicate what the Secret contained. In these statements, Sister Lucy speaks of the devil gaining power over priests and consecrated souls. She speaks of the diabolic disorientation infecting the upper hierarchy.

In her 1957 conversation with Father Fuentes, her last public interview that was not pre-approved by the Vatican, Sister Lucy said: "The devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Blessed Virgin, as he knows what it is that offends God the most, and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way he will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them."

More than a decade later, Sister Lucy denounced the progressivist forces in the Church seeking to downplay and suppress the Rosary. "This campaign is diabolical," she wrote in 1969 to one of her priest-nephews, "do not let yourself be deceived." This is from the 1973 book A Little Treatise on the Nature and Recitation of the Rosarycontainingexcerpts from letters of Sister Lucy written between 1969-71.

In these letters, she also had strong words about the leadership in the Church following Vatican II. She wrote in 1970 to Mother Martins, a former companion in the Dorothean Sisters: "It is painful to see such a great disorientation in so many who occupy places of responsibility ... the devil has succeeded in infiltrating evil under cover of good, and the blind are beginning to guide others, as the Lord tells us in His Gospel, and souls are letting themselves be deceived."

It is noteworthy that in 1957, Sister Lucy said the devil was about to wage a decisive battle. By 1971, she says the devil has begun to succeed.

"Gladly," Sister Lucy continued, "I sacrifice myself and offer my life to God for peace in His Church, for priests and for all consecrated souls, especially for those who are so deceived and misled ... he (the devil) has succeeded in leading into error and deceiving souls having a heavy responsibility through the place which they occupy ... They are blind men guiding other blind men."

Stand Up To ItIt Is Necessary to

It is no mystery why Sister Lucy was silenced. A voice as powerful as hers making such statements, a voice loved and respected as Our Ladys chosen vessel, would threaten the entire post-Conciliar aggiornamento. This was to be avoided at all costs. Vatican II and its destructive reforms were the new center of the universe. Sister Lucys lips were duly padlocked.

The contemplative Carmelite accepted her imposition of silence. She understood it as Heavens chosen path for her. "I must remain in silence, in prayer and in penance," Sister Lucy said in a 1970 letter to her friend Dona Maria Theresa da Cunha. "In this way, I can and must help you the most ... such is the part the Lord has chosen for me: to pray and sacrifice myself for those who struggle to work in the Lords vineyard and for the extension of His Kingdom."

Those of us outside the Carmel, however, she exhorted to battle: "This is a diabolic disorientation invading the world and misleading souls! It is necessary to stand up to it ..."

After the release of the 1973 booklet, we no longer hear Sister Lucy speak of the diabolic disorientation.

Meanwhile, the Church has been updated beyond recognition, far worse than it was in the early days of the revolution in 1973. So much so that if Pope Benedict XV, the reigning Pontiff in 1917, would now step into the average parish church during Sunday Mass, he would assume that a weird, liberal sect had commandeered the once-Catholic building: a sect that offers a loose Protestant liturgy and preaches perverse doctrine; a sect that sings insipid songs and allows sloven, immodest dress during worship; a sect that spends large sums of money renovating and de-Catholicizing the church interior; a sect where lay-people help give out Communion, indicating the sect does not believe in the Real Presence. He would also note from the dwindling numbers that the sect is dying.

Lucys holy cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, would be equally horrified, especially if they attended the rocknroll circus known as World Youth Day. Here they would view with revulsion the vulgarity of the atmosphere, the lewd, sloven dress of the young people, the riotous behaviors, the pep-rally spirit at Papal Masses, the rocknroll rhythms pervading the liturgy, the silly liturgical dance, the blatant irreverence toward the Blessed Sacrament. They would be further scandalized to see all this praised by blind guides of the post-Conciliar Church, who call it a "sign of hope" for the new millennium.

Tutored by an Angel

Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia had received instruction from an Angel in 1916. The Angel taught them that the Blessed Sacrament was truly the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The children followed the example of the Angel who prostrated himself before the Blessed Sacrament in profound reverence and adoration.

This reverence Catholics owe the Blessed Sacrament has all but disappeared in the post-Conciliar Church where profanation is the order of the day. The widespread sacrilege of Communion in the hand and lay "Eucharistic ministers" in the average parish church (and predominate at World Youth Day Papal Masses), would have sent Jacinta and Francisco into weeks of penance and reparation.

We May Never Know

One wonders how much of the true situation of the Church Sister Lucy was allowed to learn. We never heard from her own lips what she thought of the present state of the Church, or even if she knew how far it had sunk.

In this mortal life, we may never know what Sister Lucy thought of the heretical interfaith Congress held at Fatima in October 2003, wherein Father Jacques Dupuis called the infallible definition of the Council of Florence a "horrible text", to the grand applause of all present.

We may never know what she thought of Fatima Shrine Rector Guerras applause of this statement, and his attack on those who critiqued his interfaith Congress.

We may never know what she thought of the Vaticans Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, who at the same Fatima Congress gave unqualified praise to Father Dupuis for his blasphemous and heretical remarks.

We may never know what she thought of the Hindu ritual at Fatimas Little Chapel of the Apparitions on May 5, 2004, permitted by Shrine Rector Guerra, wherein a Hindu "priest" at the Catholic altar intoned pagan prayer in the presence of a Hindu congregation who chanted Hindu responses.

We may never know what she thought of Rector Guerras subsequent lies about the Hindu ceremony, when he issued a public Communiqué claiming "nothing took place on or off the altar," despite the television broadcast, videos and published photographs of the Hindu "priest" chanting at the altar, with his Hindu "congregation" joining in the ceremony.

No, Sister Lucy was never allowed to speak without prior Vatican authorization. She who warned against the diabolic disorientation was forbidden to comment on the disorientation as it accelerated. Nor were we allowed anywhere near her to ask what she thought of it all, or even to ask how much of it she knew was going on.

We may also never know what Sister Lucy thought of the new post-Conciliar ecumenical teaching that claims non-Catholics need not convert to the Catholic Church for salvation. By this, the "conversion of Russia" is given an entirely different meaning from the true meaning taught by all Popes, Saints and Doctors of the Church before Vatican II.

ZenitMore Disinformation From

The heretical new definition was manifest in a Zenit article published three days after Sister Lucys death entitled "Fatima Has Wide Appeal in Russia, Says Aide". Victor Khroul, described by Zenit as a "Catholic media official", is Director of the Information Center of the Catholic Bishops of Russia. Khroul speaks of his admiration of Sister Lucy, and his gratitude for her "testimony and encouragement of the Russian people ... thanks to her, many people have prayed for decades for the conversion of Russia".

Khroul, who is also editor of the Catholic weekly Svet Evangelia, then spouts the new definition of "conversion". He says that when one speaks of "the conversion of Russia", one must understand that it means "the passing from non-belief to the Christian faith" and must not be confused with being or not being Catholic.

This is a deceptive and dangerous modernist tactic: to invest a Catholic word with un-Catholic meaning.

Further, if this definition of conversion were true, then Russia was already "converted" when Our Lady appeared at Fatima in 1917, when She predicted the eventual conversion of Russia. The vast majority of Russians were then, and have remained even under Communist persecution, Russian Orthodox. The new definition empties Our Ladys words of all meaning. It also defies the infallible dogma of the Catholic Church.

It has always been Catholic teaching that those belonging to the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, are not members of Christs one true Church, since they are cut off from Her by schism. The Council of Florence defined infallibly that "Pagans, Jews, heretics and schismatics" are "outside the Catholic Church", and as such, "can never be partakers of eternal life," unless "before death" they are joined to the one true Church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church.

In other words, they must convert.

This truth has been taught by the Church from the beginning. St. Fulgentius in the 5th Century expressed the same doctrine in words obviously used as the basis for the Council of Florences definition. He wrote, "Hold most firmly and in no way doubt, that not only pagans, but also all Jews and all heretics and schismatics, who terminate this present life outside of the Catholic Church, are going to go into the everlasting fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels."

The Catechism of the Council of Trent, likewise teaches, "infidels, heretics, schismatics and excommunicated persons" are "excluded from the Churchs pale".

The Catechism of Pope Saint Pius X, centuries later, presents the same truth without change. It teaches, "Outside the true Church are: Infidels, Jews, heretics, apostates, schismatics and excommunicated persons". It states further, "No one can be saved outside the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church, just as no one could be saved from the flood outside the Ark of Noah, which was a figure of the Church."

St. Pius X Says the Orthodox Must Convert

Pope Saint Pius X spoke specifically of the need for the schismatic Orthodox to return to the Catholic Church. In his 1910 encyclical Ex Quo, he wrote that all work for the reunion of the schismatic Orthodox "will be in vain unless first, and above all, they (the Eastern Orthodox) hold the true and whole Catholic Faith as it has been handed down and consecrated in Holy Scripture, the tradition of the Fathers, the consent of the Church, general councils and the decrees of the Supreme Pontiffs." Saint Pius X prayed that God will "hasten the day when the nations of the East shall return to Catholic unity and, united to the Apostolic See, after casting away their errors, shall enter the port of everlasting salvation."

We see Saint Pius X reiterates that the Eastern Orthodox:

1) embrace heretical teachings that they must abandon;

2) are not united to the true Church of Christ due to their schism;

3) will not arrive at the port of salvation unless they cast away their errors and join Christs one true Church, by submitting to the legitimate Apostolic Authority of the Papacy.

Contrary to the ecumenical teaching now prevalent among Church leaders, and indicated by Victor Khroul, conversion can only have one meaning: the return of the schismatics, heretics and dissidents to the true Church established by Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church.

The consequences of twisting the terminology is obvious. The Consecration has not been done, Russia has not converted to the Catholic Faith, so modernist Catholics invoke the new definition of conversion. By so doing, they claim that the Consecration is accomplished, Russia is now converted, and the prophecies of Fatima are completely fulfilled.

Sister Lucy died during the height of the diabolic disorientation. We may never know what she thought of this perversion of the Fatima Message and of this corruption of basic Catholic teaching.

What we do know is that Sister Lucy accomplished her mission to make known Our Lady of Fatimas Message: "God wants to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart." She communicated Our Ladys requests that we pray the Rosary every day, make sacrifices for sinners, offer our daily duty to God as an act of sacrifice, and make Five First Saturdays of Reparation to Our Ladys Immaculate Heart. She transmitted the Third Secret, that obviously has not yet been fully revealed (see "Sister Lucy Dies; but Full Third Secret Yet to be Released", "Sister Lucys Cell Ordered Sealed by Cardinal Ratzinger", and "The Silencing of Sister Lucy"), and conveyed to the Pope Our Ladys request to consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart. Sister Lucy also made known Our Ladys warning that if Her requests are not heeded, "various nations will be annihilated".

The Severity of My Justice

Sister Lucy also communicated the much-neglected warning given by Our Lord. She writes in her Memoirs: "In March, 1939, Our Lord said to me once more, Ask, ask again insistently for the promulgation of the Communion of Reparation in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the First Saturdays. The time is coming when the rigor of My justice will punish the crimes of diverse nations. Some of them will be annihilated. At last the severity of My justice will fall severely on those who want to destroy My reign in souls."

We Must Continue Sister Lucys Work

It is for us to continue to spread the Message of Fatima, to insist that Fatima is not finished: its Message must be obeyed and promoted now more than ever.

Let us go forward with zeal and confidence. We have good reason to believe we have a new supernatural advocate to whom we can pray to help us advance the Fatima Message:Lucia de Jesus dos Santos.

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace, Amen.